Anything
by Darren Von Leopard
Summary: AU. An unrequited love can make the sanest person do unspeakable things. To a boy who had always been less than the rest, could make him do even worse. Is Darren going to pay for Steve's actions? Will he say the truth or will he let people die?
1. Look

Screams. Blood. Tears.

He sank his knife again.

More screams, more blood, more tears.

It wasn't enough. He did it again.

"Help!" it croaked out.

But no one was going to help.

He would make sure of that.

* * *

**Anything – Chapter 1: Look.**

* * *

Darren Shan had everything he wanted: a supportive family, a beautiful house, a great job, amazing friends and the perfect girlfriend. Life couldn't go better. He was the front runner on his soccer team and had won several tournaments in the past few years. His girlfriend, Debbie, was the most beautiful, smart and funny girl he'd ever known, and his friends were even greater. Yeah, he had the perfect life.

And nobody knew this better than Steve Leonard, his once best friend. They had been together for almost ten years, until that day when everything changed and Darren pretty much sent Steve to hell. But, unlike his lucky former friend, Steve didn't have the perfect life. Actually, he had nothing. He'd spent his life shadowing Shan, admiring him and secretly loving him, so now there was nothing left for him to do.

Still, he had been watching him ever since they split. He was obsessed with him, and he kept on torturing himself with the thought that Darren will never feel the same way about him. He had nothing anyway, why would someone as bright as Darren even care for him? He said it himself. He said everything Steve kept repeating to himself every single day.

But we all have a limit, and Steve Leonard had reached his last night. And soon Darren's perfect life would stop being so perfect.

* * *

A normal day in Vancha March's life consisted in getting to work, watch a lot of papers that didn't really say anything, eat food, and go home. When he enlisted himself to work for the police he never thought his life would be so boring. At least he worked with his brother, Gannen, in the same unit: Homicides.

There wasn't much to say about their unit, though. Their town was so little and so peaceful that the sole idea of having a Homicides Unit seemed like a joke to the police staff. Vancha took his job seriously, and so did Gannen, so it was even funnier to their co-workers.

But when a cold blooded murdered report came to his hands, Vancha finally saw that there can be chaos in even the most peaceful place.

At first it was like any other report that came into his hands—an attempt to murder a young lady who was raped, and as soon as the word "rape" came to his eyes, he trashed the paper away and sent it to the Special Victims Unit. There weren't many examples to display anyway. A wife who tried to poison his husband, the occasional body found by the local pub (who always had an extremely high amount of alcohol on his body), some results of street fights, and stuff like that. He never had something that made his stomach wrench, or that made him had any nightmares. He thought he would never have to deal with something like that. Why would he, they lived in a peaceful town.

He tossed the paper away as soon as he saw the pictures. Who in Earth could do something like that? He took a deep breath and took the papers back into his hands.

"Gannen, you have to see this."

His brother wasn't much of a talker. He was more brains, actually. And it didn't surprise Vancha when he looked at the pictures without any display of emotion on his face. He could see that he was affected by it, though. There are some things we can't hide from the people that knows us since forever.

Gannen placed the pictures carefully on the table. He frowned as he read the report and he looked at the pictures again, still frowning.

"Is that supposed to be directed to us?" he pointed at the forehead of the girl in the picture.

"I guess. Otherwise, who?" Vancha frowned too, watching the letters in the girl's forehead.

"That's what I'm thinking, Vancha. Maybe is a code to someone," Gannen looked at the rest of the pictures. They didn't change; it was just a different angle. And the word "Look" was pretty obvious in every single shot. "It's her own blood," he said, tracing with his fingers the trail of blood that came from her forehead.

"I never thought it was someone else's," Vancha huffed, examining his brother more than the picture. It made him nauseous. The only thing that was visible was the girl's face, everything else was covered in blood, and it didn't have any shape. It was like someone smashed her body and left it as pulp. "Who could've done something like this? And why do you think it is a code? We have to research first."

"I know that. But we have to start somewhere, and if it is a code, we can focus on that instead of searching helplessly somewhere else," Gannen then went to his desk and took his notebook. "So, it says 'Look', right? Maybe we should start from the obvious, who is this girl?"

* * *

"Debbie? Are you there? Would you pick up the phone? I'm tired of this," Darren waited a little bit, then, when nothing happened, sighed and hung up.

"Shan! What are you doing? Come back, you have to finish warming up," he heard his coach said.

"I'm on it, Coach Crepsley!" he ran back to the field as he kept on thinking about Debbie's whereabouts.

"Coach! Someone is asking to see Shan in the entrance!" Jimmy Taylor, another front runner, said.

"This is not your society club, master Shan! We are here to work, so work!"

Jimmy came close to Darren, and as soon as he could, Darren held him by the arm.

"Is it Debbie?"

"You wish… but yeah, she's very angry. I don't know what you did, but _hell_ you don't deserve that girl," he let go of his arm and continued exercising.

Darren sighed again and tried his luck with his coach, approaching slowly, thinking about how to ask him and see why was Debbie so angry.

"No, Shan. We have not come this far for nothing. You have to work and work and work as the rest of your partners. You are no better than any of them!"

"Just five minutes," Darren asked. "Please, I swear I won't take more, okay?"

Coach Crepsley grumbled something under his breath and then mumbled something like "Five minutes only" and Darren ran away.

When he came close to Debbie, she was talking through the phone with someone and she was yelling and pacing around irritated.

"No! I don't care, why should I go? I didn't know her that much, you go! For crying out loud, Lucy, she's your sister! Oh, so now—no, no! Listen to me, I won't do anything for you anymore, anything! This happened because YOU weren't paying attention, not me! No! Screw you!" she nearly broke the phone when she hung up. "Can you believe her? Her sister is nowhere to be found and she's blaming me! Me! I just met her for like, two seconds, and now I'm the responsible for her disappearance? This is a mad world," she kept saying more nonsense things and Darren just held her for a while.

"Are you alright now?" he asked after a few more angry rants. Debbie nodded. "So, what's with this girl?"

"After you drop me home yesterday Lucy came by with her sister. We had dinner and the girl showed me some stuff she did—some drawings. Anyway, they went home _together_ and I went to bed. I have no idea of what happened to them, but I think they fought over something and then the girl went home by her own or something, I don't really know. The point is that Lucy is insane and she blames me for whatever happened between them. Now the girl's missing and… well, I don't know! Lucy wanted me to go to the police, can you believe it? Me! Why in Earth will I—" her phone started ringing again, she checked the number and scowled. "She's crazy. You talk to her," she passed him the phone and Darren picked it up, confused.

"Um… Lucy? Yeah, it's Darren. No, she's here with me. What… wait, what? Hold on, what? Lucy, calm down, it's fine—what are you… Oh, my God. Are you… are you sure?" there was a long pause in which Darren's face darkened. "Ye-Yeah, hold on," he held the phone in his hand. "Debbie, you better talk to her," his face was panicked and Debbie frowned.

"What happened?"

"Talk to her," he gave her the phone and ran his hands through his hair.

"Shan! What happened with your five minutes? Do you have a problem with the clock? Come back here!"

And without saying a word, and with Debbie crying over the phone, Darren ran away and focused on his work, so that his mind would stop thinking about that girl and how her life ended before it even started.

* * *

"So, we have nothing. She wasn't in any band, she had no problems with anyone, she was clean," Vancha growled, twirling his pencil over his notes. "Family?"

"Only a sister and her mother, the father died a few years ago," Gannen growled against his own notes.

"Any way the father left a debt or something like that?"

"No, according to the mother."

"And the mother, is she clean too?"

"Yeah, she works at home."

"There must be something…," Vancha closed his eyes tightly. "Sixteen years old, that's just a shame," he covered his face with his hands. "Do you think we have a serial killer here? I feel like this is a pretty M.O. to use."

"I still think it has to do with an inner problem, something between two parties," Gannen looked obsessed with the pictures, trying to see something there.

"Drop that, Gannen. This girl was clean, her family is clean, this was a random shot."

"But if it's random, then how are we going to find the killer? We only know that it is a male, because no woman could have such a force, and he used a knife, because of her forehead, but we have no fingerprints. We have no suspects. We have no motive. We have nothing."

"This is a small town, we can go and…"

"…knock door by door and claim everyone as a suspect?" Gannen smiled sadly. "You know we can't do that. There's nothing we can do."

"So, what? We just give up? Because I'm not a quitter and neither are you, Gannen."

"I know," he sighed. "And if it is a serial killer, then we should hurry up before he kills someone else. There must be something. It has to have something. It always does."

Vancha covered his face with his hands again, frustrated. Gannen was right, there was always something. There was something they were missing.

"Is the sister clean?" he asked, his hands still on his face.

Gannen looked at him for a while. Vancha took his hands away and saw him.

"You didn't ask anything about the sister, did you?"

"I'm an idiot," he ran his hands through his face. "I only know she came here because she wanted to report her sister as a missing person," he smacked his hand against the desk. "I'm such an idiot! Come on, let's go!"

* * *

"I'm really sorry, Lucy," Darren said while he hugged her.

"Yeah, such a shame…"

Darren froze and turned his head to meet Steve's eyes. He felt a shiver run down his spine.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I met the girl once. She was so young…," he looked at Lucy and her mother, both crying. "It's such a shame people don't see what's in front of them, right?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Darren said, looking everywhere but him. He still made him uncomfortable after all those years. He looked creepier than before, but he was so sure of himself, it was really weird. Darren was used to see him different.

"Have you missed me? I have," Steve said instead, ignoring his question. "It's been a while since we last talked," his face darkened for some reason. "I know you don't want me near you, but since I saw you here I thought that it was okay to say hi, but I'm leaving if that's what you want."

"I… I…," he wasn't really sure of how to answer. Steve smiled sadly and Darren felt that something was wrong. He looked around and he saw two guys talking with Lucy. He then turned to Steve but he was gone. "Steve? Steve? Where are you?"

"Look," he heard someone whisper in his ear. He turned in a heartbeat and no one was there. "Look, Darren," he looked around, scared. "Look!" someone shouted on his ear and he screamed, making everyone watch him, especially those guys.

They turned to each other and then they walked their way to him. Darren looked around, dazzled, and he saw Steve winking at him. He pointed his index and middle finger to his eyes and then he pointed them to the police detectives.

"Can we have a word with you, sir?" one of the detectives, a guy who had his skin so tanned it seemed like he was burnt in the sun, said.

Darren stuttered something like "yes" and as he turned to see Steve again, he realized he was gone.

* * *

**A/N:** I... I have no idea of what the hell is in my head. This seemed like a good idea a few hours ago, before I started to write it. And I have everything, really... is just that... I'm scared about me. This is going to be pretty dark and weird and I just don't know. Also sorry about my grammar or any mistake you could find, I'm mexican so I'm working on my english and all of that jskbfdsfdkbf.

I just really don't know. I'm sorry if this chapter didn't have as much Darren/Steve as I wanted, but it was better like this, in the chapters to come it will be pretty crazy so... Also since this is a AU I will have regular CDF characters making their appereance over here. Mostly in a picture with letters on their foreheads but oh well... (in my defense, they _will_ be alive! they will have interactions! they just will end up in a picture...). Also I don't know how in my mind Larten could be a soccer couch akjbksfsd it's the only part that made me laugh while I was writing this akjskbsdf but yeah whateeever I hope you liked it? Since it's really weird and messy and all of that... I'm going to try to update as soon as I can and... yep. That's pretty much it. Thoughts?


	2. At

**A/N:** I am a terrible writer. Also an idiot. And I forgot to put the disclaimer in the past chapter and I forget to say that this fic is M not only because of the "murder" side of the thing, but it also contains sexual shit and all of that. I just need to get this out of my head so I'll keep on writing it, just for the sake of my mind.

Also, the timeswap on this chapter is fucked up. My bad. Is coming back and forth between past and present. Just to explain some stuff.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Saga of Darren Shan nor it's characters. If I did I think I wouldn't write crazy stories like this.

* * *

"That's wrong. _You_ are wrong. Just get away from me! Leave me alone!"

"But-"

"But nothing! I don't want to see you anymore, don't come near me, you freak!" he shoved the other away and ran. Steve shut his eyes, fighting back tears, and when he was sure he was gone, he fell apart.

* * *

**Anything – Chapter 2: At.**

* * *

"Did you know the girl?"

"No."

"Why did you scream like that, then?"

"I'm just... I mean, she was so young," Darren fumbled. He looked all over the place, searching for help, but Debbie was busy comforting Lucy and there was no one else he knew in that place. "I just... well, I'm not feeling really well."

"We noticed that," the tanned guy said, sarcastically.

"We only want to know if you had any interaction with this girl," the other guy said. He looked creepier than the other, and Darren felt threatened by only looking at him.

"I told you already, I never really met her. She was the sister of one of my girlfriend's friends," he said, looking at Debbie again. The creepy guy followed his gaze and saw her too.

"Is that her?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Is that all? I mean, I don't want to be rude or anything, but I think you already know what you wanted."

"Yeah, we do," the tanned guy said, eyeing him. "But don't be so sure, kid. We may come back to ask you more if we need to."

"Is fine, I'll answer anything you need then, but can I go now?"

They shared a look and then the creepy guy nodded. Darren almost ran away, making his way up to Debbie, who was waiting for him.

"This place depresses me, can we go?" she said.

"But what about Lucy?"

"Oh, everybody is comforting her, she won't notice I'm not here anyway," she said bitterly, taking Darren's arm. "Come on," she said, and then turned abruptly and started looking around.

"Is everything okay?" Darren asked, frowning.

"Yeah, I just... I felt as if someone was watching me," she shook her shoulders. "God, I'm paranoid. Let's go before I do a scene a la Darren Shan."

"Very funny," but as they were heading out, he made sure to watch around too, having a slight suspicion of who was watching her girlfriend.

* * *

It hadn't been more than a week and he kept on watching everything he did. He was sure he was just mad, maybe a little confused. He could understand that. He could give him some time.

As Darren made his way to his apartment, his shadow was just inches away, looking, waiting.

"Get out," Darren snapped, and Steve froze. "I know you're there, just get the fuck out."

Steve quietly obeyed, standing out of his hiding place. Darren folded his arms and glared at him.

"Are you ever going to leave me alone?" He waited for an answer and got none. "So now you're not going to say anything? That's your brilliant plan, lurk me, follow me forever, until what? I love you back?" He waited again but now all Steve did was watch his feet. Darren came close to him and shove him to the wall. "I'm talking to you, sissy," he whispered in his ear. Steve only gasped. "When someone asks you something you're supposed to answer," he whispered again. Steve closed his eyes, his everything screaming inside.

"I... I thought you needed... time," he whispered back, eyes still closed.

"Oh, time for what? I'm sorry for breaking your spirits, honey, but I'm not changing my mind. I told you very clearly that I'm not one of your club," he said softly, caressing Steve's cheek. "I'm never going to feel the same way, so why bother? Go drown yourself or something. No one's going to love you anyway," Steve opened his eyes and looked at him, a tear running all the way to his jaw. Darren smiled. "Oh, poor Steve. You actually believed I loved you back? Why would I do that? I have a girlfriend, a _girl. _ That's the way it's supposed to be. You're sick, you're a freak, you're disgusting, you're-"

"Shut up!" he was the one who shoved him away this time. Darren arched his eyebrows, amused, and stepped back.

"Whoa, whoa. I get it. What was that thing you said? Oh, right 'I'll do anything for you', well, can you do something for me? Leave me the fuck alone!" he turned and left, leaving Steve kicking the wall and hating himself for being so weak.

* * *

"I hate guys like that. They have the perfect life so everything is just so simple for them," Vancha grumbled on their way back.

"Are you still talking about the soccer player?" Gannen asked, a little amused at how his brother reacted to such a kid.

"Yeah. I mean, who the hell does he think he is? 'I don't want to be rude or anything'," he imitated him, exaggerating his voice in a goofy way. "And he's also insane! Why the hell did he scream like that? He should be in a mental institution," he frowned, actually thinking about that.

"You're giving him a lot of attention, huh?" Vancha looked at him horrified.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm just saying that maybe your 'dislike' for this boy comes from last week's match. They won over your team, didn't they?" Gannen smiled knowingly, looking at the road. "He has nothing to do with us, anyway. We asked and he answered, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal?" he replied, almost screaming. "Well, Gannen, maybe he lied! What do we actually know about him? He's crazy, maybe some crazy side of him takes over at nights and he kills people! What do we know! I mean, he could've easily lied! Or, even worse, he may not even know it!" Vancha turned anxiously to his brother. "Gannen, we have to go back! We have to get him, he's a murder weapon!"

"I think you're the crazy person," Gannen said, shaking his head.

* * *

He wasn't really going to stop looking at him. He was his everything, despite of how rude he'd been. Their friendship wasn't really a field of roses and clouds of candy. He'd always been his shadow, since Darren had always been the lucky one. They supported each other and they had their good moments, but Steve had always been less than him. Maybe it was unconscious, maybe when he realized he loved him he just gave up to whatever he wanted. And Darren got used to that. Only that he didn't know that it was love what motivated his best friend to do anything for him. Steve had always done anything Darren commanded. Always, but not this time.

And now, after years of looking, years of longing, years of desire, Steve knew his life couldn't be like this forever.

He just couldn't be his shadow for all eternity. Not even without his permission. Not anymore.

That's why he followed her. That girl that took Darren away from him. Maybe if she hadn't appear those years ago then Darren would possibly had consider him. He knew that Darren was actually scared. He knew him way too much to tell. His best friend turned up confessing his feelings over him and that caught him off guard. It was obvious. Maybe if Debbie hadn't been there... then maybe Darren would've thought about what he felt. He wouldn't go to his "duties" or to what people said was right. If Debbie hadn't been there, then maybe Darren and Steve would be together.

No, not maybe. It would have. Darren would be his right now.

So, he knew what he had to do. He had planned this for a while, bought special clothes, gloves, got a pretty sharp knife and plotted what to do with the body. If he burnt it then she would seem to be missing and Darren would be looking for her, so she had to be found. He should just leave the body where he strike it, in her house. Then maybe Darren would find her and understand. Yes, he needed to understand. He had to send him a message. He was sure he wasn't going to turn him into the cops, he would be too scared to do so.

He just... knew him way too well to tell.

But something happened that night. Everything was going according to plan, Darren left Debbie on her house, she went inside, and he could watch her from the tree that was just beside her bedroom. A pretty cliché house she had. So easy. But then someone appear. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Two more people came into the picture. He had to leave his place and move somewhere else to look.

They spent a lot of time together and he was getting sick of it. His anger stopped being to Debbie and instead he wanted to kill those girls. They were on his way. They weren't supposed to be there. They had to be removed.

So when they left, Steve decided to go for them. It would be a pretty romantic kind of ending, he could even place the bodies in a special form and he was even getting some other ideas. A message, again, was popping in his mind. He had to leave a message for Darren. He moved as a leopard hunting its prey, ready to attack. He was getting excited by this.

But then, something happened. Again. They started arguing about stupid stuff that he didn't even paid attention to, and the little one took her things and started to walk away. The older was yelling something but then she turned and went in a different direction. He had to choose now. He couldn't kill them both now. It had to be different. He could still see the shape of the younger one so he decided to go for her. She was weaker so it should be easy.

And it was easy.

* * *

Now, he knew he had to change some plans. The good thing was that there was no connection to this girl, so the cops had nothing against him, and Darren hadn't really got the message yet. So he could play a little.

He only bought new gloves. The clothes could be reused and the knife was amazing. He had a different target in mind, a different game. This was getting better and better and he couldn't feel more excited about it.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled to a young woman who bumped with him by 'accident' on the train station.

"Don't worry, I'm clumsy as hell," she replied, taking a piece of her curly hair and placing it behind her shoulder. "I'm Phoebe," she said, smiling shyly. Steve smirked.

"Steve," he held her hand gently. "I'm clumsy too, maybe I could buy you a drink and make it up to you?"

"You don't really have to make up anything," she giggled. "But I heard there's a pub a few blocks from here. What do you say?"

"I say that we should get going," he took her by the arm and carried her bags. She looked at him like he was a mortal God and held on to his arm like there was no tomorrow. And sure there wasn't. He knew that better than anybody.

* * *

Alice Burgess was getting her lunch done when the phone rang loudly. She groaned and picked it up, sucking the remainings of her sandwich out of her fingers.

"Yeah? Alice Burgess here," she placed her legs over her desktop, enjoying a moment before taking action. "Yeah, I am," she said, toying with the buttons of her shirt, then something happened that made her jump out of her seat. "What? Hold on, give me the adress right now," she demanded, taking a piece of paper and a pencil while writing furiously. "Yeah, I'll be right there," she hang up the phone and turned. "RV! Where is this idiot?" she mumbled, taking her coat. "We have work, so bring your ass here and let's go!"

"Phoebe Jenkins, twenty five years old," the police officer said, handing her the papers. "Apparently she's not from here, but, um, you should get ready for what you're about to see," he told her carefully, Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think I can't handle a murder scene? Do you have any idea of-"

"Shut up, Alice," RV came, took the papers out of her hands and read quickly. "How bad is it in there?"

"Pretty bad, detective. I... I'm sorry, detective," he told Alice. "It's just that... well, I don't really want to think about it."

"That's because you're probably a pussy, now, move away so I can see," she shoved him away and walked inside the room.

And then she froze.

* * *

"Apparently you're getting some competition," Sam Grest, the boy who gave them correspondence, said. Vancha frowned at him.

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?"

"I have a friend who's working as the police mailman too, in another city of course," he started, Vancha rolled his eyes and wave his hand.

"Yeah, no offense, but I'm not really interested on your mailman club, I need to work on a case,"

"I know, sir, that's where I'm going," the acne-ish boy smiled. "He told me that they have a big case in their town, just like we have one here. And it's confidential and everything," he said, as if that was oh so amazing. Vancha gave him a suspicious look and crossed his arms.

He waited for the boy to continue but apparently Sam wasn't going to say anything else. Vancha glared at him.

"Well, are you going to tell me or what?"

"Only if you keep me informed on what's happening in our case, so I can tell my friend,"

If Vancha didn't know this kid since he was twelve, he probably would have suspected something, but he rolled his eyes and nodded. Sam beamed at him and leaned down on his desk.

"He told me that a girl was found on a hotel room. She was destroyed, like, her body. He said he's having nightmares already," he said excitedly, _'Oh, what's happening to this young people'_, Vancha thought. "But that's not all. She was found on the bed, and the whole room was destroyed. It's weird because no one reported any sound," Vancha frowned deeper. "It was as if a creature attacked her, and he told me that there were some pondering that, but it just couldn't be because the girl had a word written on her forehead, and I told him-"

"Wait, what?" he jumped and took Sam by the neck of his shirt, pulling him close. The boy gulped. "What was the word? How did the girl look? I mean, was she blonde?"

"I don't know that much, sir. He said he just looked over a picture, and that's how he knew, but no one is saying anything about the word because it's confusing and they don't want people to know," he put on a sorry face and Vancha knew he was genuine.

"Where did this happen?"

* * *

"Thank you for answering in such a short manner," Gannen said, walking slowly through the room.

"Yeah, no biggie, any help is great," Alice said, her legs on her desk again. "I mean, you even came here, that should mean something."

"Is just that... we had a similar case on our hometown," Gannen explained.

"Yeah, my mailboy told me," she winked and Vancha smirked.

"Mine too!"

"Vancha, would you please...?"

"Yeah, sorry," he sat down next to Alice. "This is our situation," he handed her their report and she sat down normally on her chair. She closed her eyes tightly and then she gave them another folder.

"And this is our's."

Gannen and Vancha came together and watched the report. The woman was older, they noticed. And she wasn't blonde, as their girl. But what had been wrenching Vancha's stomach was the word, which is where his eyes first went when he saw the picture.

"'_At_'?" Gannen whispered, frowning.

"We were thinking that it was a gang or something," RV said, who was standing right behind Alice and was now looking at their report. "A code to someone."

"We thought the same thing about our case too,"

"And was that the answer?"

"Actually, we have no clue about anything in our case," Vancha said. "Our girl didn't have any problems and same was her family, we even went twice to ask them about it and they're clueless. Though there was something with a guy..."

"Vancha..." Gannen said in a warning tone.

"No, Gannen, look. This girl," he pointed at the report Alice gave them. "Looks a lot like his girlfriend, doesn't she?"

Gannen took the folder out of his brother's hands and examined it. The girl's body was pulp too, and he wondered how in earth could someone do that to another person, but when he paid attention to the girl's face, he felt his heart sink when he realized his brother was right. In this way, by just looking at the picture, it seemed like it was Debbie. She had curly hair, just like hers, and she was dark-skinned. Her bone structure was really like hers. And she had big eyes like her too.

"This is ridiculous, Vancha. As much as she looks like his girlfriend, it doesn't make any sense. Why would he kill someone that looks exactly like the person he loves?"

"Maybe because he doesn't love her that much," he replied, staring at him.

"Well, this theory is pretty crazy, but if there's some connection somehow with this boy, we need to talk to him," Alice said, shrugging. "We're just going to let the family know, they deserve that at least. Then we'll go to your town. Just keep an eye on your boy."

"We shouldn't wait this much. He could kill again," Vancha pressed and Gannen shot him a deadly look.

"Leave it, Vancha. We're just going to pay attention to what he does, but no questioning him nor stalking him either, you get me?"

"Whatever," he grumbled.

"Fine, so that's it. We'll see ya tomorrow probably," RV said, opening the door. "Thank you so much for coming to help."

"As soon as we catch that bug. Thanks us then, not now," Vancha said, dead in his eyes. Gannen rolled his and excused themselves.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh, man. This came out longer than expected. Oh well... I am insane, I am insaaaane. Anyway, I wanted to introduce Alice already akjbdfbsd so yeah, whatever. And RV works with her just because I thought it would be fun that Vampanezes and Vampires get together in this story. Somehow. Oh well. akdkbfksjd


	3. M E

**A/N:** I got reviews! Hahaha, and now I'm just thinking about how I just don't like the summary, it doesn't really explain what this is really about. I just suck at summaries, I need to work on that. I may change it everytime I update :P anywaaaay, for those who reviewed, thank you very much! I really appreciate that you take the time to read whatever crazy thing I have in my head. So, I already know where this is going and MAN I am crazy. But anyways, I'll just let you people read :P

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Saga of Darren Shan nor it's characters. If I did I think I wouldn't write crazy stories like this.

* * *

"Are you sure?" he hurried up and zipped down his pants. "Wouldn't she suspect?"

"No, she was very tired tonight," he smiled. "I drop her and came here. If she suspected something, she would've already called me. Don't worry," he said, taking him by his neck. "Nobody knows."

* * *

**Anything – Chapter 3: M-E.**

* * *

"I should do this, not you," Gannen grumbled at his very excited brother. "Vancha, you should really stop being so stupid. How could Shan have done something like that? Just because he won over your team doesn't make him a killer!"

Vancha wasn't paying attention. Gannen scowled at him. "I have to go with you, we're partners, goddammit! I can't let you go by your own, you're probably going to fall sleep anyway and then-"

"Gannen, just shut up, will you?" Vancha took him by the shoulders. "I know what I'm doing, and yes, you're supposed to come with me, but Alice and RV need you here, you're way more organized than me and you can handle the papers and all that shit. You see why it sucks to be the only ones in our department?"

"I'm supposed to check on the boy, and you stay here! The phone ringing will wake you up anyway!"

"Why are you so sure that I'll fall sleep? Why can't you never ever trust me? I'm your brother!"

"Not here! You're my partner, Vancha, and you need to understand the weight this has and stop acting like a child!"

"Yeah, that's me, right? The _child_," he narrowed his eyes, dark as hell. Gannen folded his arms and they stared at each other for a while, both fuming and about to explode. After a few more minutes, Gannen sighed.

"Yes, Vancha. You're a child. But it's fine, go do your detective thing. But please, pay attention! You're the one who suggested him as a suspect, so take responsability on that! Whatever happens will be _your _fault, do you understand that?"

"Yes, mom," he cried sarcastically. Gannen rolled his eyes while Vancha smiled. "Don't you love how there's only two people in our department?"

* * *

Harkat Mulds had always been a short individual, so he always got picked up at school. Everyone made fun of him and made him feel terrible. He spent his whole teenage years hating the people who did whatever they wanted and get away with theirs, while people who did the right things always got the worst. So he thought he could change that. So he became a police detective, and tried his best to protect the good people from the ones he hated.

And it had been hard. He wasn't like the rest of the cops, he was quiet, he had asma and he was weak-looking. The sole idea of working with the police seemed like a bitter joke for his parents and everyone who respected him. They tried talking him out of it, but he had an objective on his mind and nothing was going to make him back out. He may have been weak, and looked like he couldn't run a yard, but he was smart and cunning. He was honourable and he was wouldn't doubt about giving up his life in order to save someone else's. He was just a great guy.

And his boss, Paris Skyle, knew this. And against everyone and everything, he trained him and teached him everything he needed to know. He soon became a very good detective, and people stopped doubting about his habilities. Every single case that came into his hands was resolved. He and his partner, Morgan James, found a way to do things right in his town, and they just knew what to do everytime.

There was simply nothing they couldn't resolve. Harkat was sure of that. Everyone got what they deserved.

* * *

Steve was so glad that there were still mountains without any houses, or people for that matter. He hated to see mountains filled with people, that at nights would be covered in lights. So many people disgusted him. Why can't they live under the rocks or something?

But that wasn't the particular reason why he was happy about the mountains. Right now no one could see him, and he could do whatever he wanted. Bury a body, a dead body, a living body... or just clean up some stuff. Like his knife. It got pretty messy after what happened with that girl, Phoebe. And his clothes weren't particularly clean after all he'd done. But it wasn't like he could clean those in a wash machine or something like that. He tried rubbing the blood out of his black jeans and hoodie, but he knew it wasn't going to work. He just watched the trails of watery blood that came out of the clothes and squeezed them, making his best as to not show that many stains. Still naked, he went after his knife and cleaned it with some disinfectants and whatnot. He wasn't going to risk the cops to find all of the bloods mixed up in his victim's bodies. Though it didn't matter, since he left the words on their foreheads anyway. He just wanted them to know that he was clever.

He grabbed a map and searched for his location. It had took him almost two days to get there, and it hadn't been easy. He was covered in blood, just to start. But the hotel Phoebe had checked in had been close to the woods, so it wasn't much of a problem. He only had to move quickly at nights, and hide pretty well at daylight. Still, he was mad at himself for not choosing a further location-this mountain was too close to the town where he'd killed Phoebe. But the blood was going to dry and it would've been hell to take it off the knife. Also that he was tired and he needed to rest a little bit.

He threw himself over the raspy grass and shut his eyes slowly, thinking about what he'd done in the past few days. He didn't feel bad about it, he actually enjoyed it. The way those girls succumbed, giving him the power. He was the one who could do anything now. He could decide if a person lived or died. That made him feel wonderful.

And then he thought about Darren. How stupid he'd been, following him everywhere, doing whatever he wanted, when he had such an amazing power on his hands. He was angry at himself, and angry at Darren too, for stopping him from what he could do. He'd spent so many years being weak, being less than him, giving him everything he had, for what? A love that never came, and according to Darren would never do. But Steve knew better. He still loved Darren, and that made him see things differently. He wasn't the one to blame for what had happened, and neither was Steve.

It was all Debbie's fault.

Their relationship started to crumble exactly when Darren met her. He started to focus more on her, making Steve feel even less of what he was, and he just wouldn't stop talking about her. He would say what an amazing girl she was, and how pretty her hair was, or her eyes, or her legs, or her lips, or her stupid everything. Steve couldn't handle it. He tried, he really did, but he couldn't help but send her dead glares anytime she would come close to them, or do things to break them apart. Darren would be pissed then, and of course, he would send Steve to hell, making him feel terrible about himself. He just wanted to hurt her so bad. Just as much as she was hurting him.

And then she started to be a bitch too. She would do things to provoke him. She touched Darren's leg when they were all together, whispering in his ear and making him giggle like an idiot. And while doing that, she would be looking straight at Steve's eyes, enjoying his suffering. And there were times where she would just pop out of nowhere and take him away from Steve. He knew she knew what he felt for Darren, and she was playing with him because she thought she could. And back then, she could.

Now?

He can.

* * *

"Anything?"

"He just came home late from training, like always," Vancha grimaced. "But maybe he's waiting, maybe he knows we're watching him and-"

"Is he always like this?" Alice asked Gannen and he sighed and nodded.

"But only when I'm right!"

"Whatever," RV said, standing up and going after Gannen. "Maybe it is because you're so short of people, I don't know. We could send you backups if you want," he whispered to him and Gannen smiled softly.

"That would be great, thank you," he whispered back. "And did you found anything regarding to your girl?"

"Right now we only know that she booked a single room," he said darkly. "Whoever attacked her wasn't coming with her, but we were expecting something like that. Though what was really confusing was the room, and how messy it was. It should've happened around 4 AM or something if people really didn't hear anything."

"We asked several people, basically the ones who were next to her room, and nothing," Alice said, her arms folded against her chest. "No one left the hotel the day we found her, so there is practically no suspect too. And when we tried reaching her family they told us that they hadn't heard from her in months," she was frowning. "Apparently she ran away because she wanted to live a 'more interesting life'," she marked with her fingers sadly. "Guess she couldn't do that."

"I don't know if this guy does this on purpose or if he's just lucky, but the person he attacks always seem to be lonely in this world," Gannen said thoughtfully, and everyone pondered on that a little.

"Our girl wasn't lonely," Vancha said slowly.

"She had family but she had no friends, nothing really 'exciting' in her life..."

"Are you suggesting that whoever did this attracts them to a more exciting life?" Alice said quickly, looking at him intensely.

"It could be. Both of them are women, and our suspect has to be a male. He could've seduced them and then kill them."

"But if that's the case, then we should had found something on her bodies. No fingerprints, no semen, no nothing. As far as we know, it may even be a ghost," RV said bitterly, no intention to make it sound funny was clear. They all look at the floor.

"There's always something, it has to be," Vancha said frowning.

But so far, they had nothing.

* * *

After resting for a while, and after travelling another couple of days by bus and train, Steve decided it was time to have fun again.

He decided to make this one pretty far away, just for fun. He arrived at the train station but figured it would be too boring to do the same thing all over again. So instead he asked for "the best coffee shop in town" and went straight there.

To say there were a lot of people there would be a lie. The place was at the top, and Steve was having a problem by being surrounded by so many people. He tried sitting as far as he could, and once he placed himself in a table everything seemed to calm down. He looked around and there still were people fighting to get their orders written down and people looking for a place to sit down. It was quite the escandalous place a regular city has. He tried to see the girls who served the coffee, see if someone looked like Debbie since Phoebe hadn't been enough, but no girl looked like her. After a few more minutes, someone caught his eye. She was definitely like her, she even seemed to be the same height. The only difference was that she was even older than Phoebe and her hair was slightly more curly. Her hands looked too soft and Steve smirked thinking about how little strength she must had. He didn't lose track of her, following her every movement, until she exited the shop and he went slowly after her.

But then he saw something that made him reconsider his plans. Again.

It didn't matter-he could have fun anyway.

* * *

Morgan James was even more quiet than his partner, Harkat Mulds. They both had made a name on their own when proving how good of detectives were. No matter what happened, they always seemed to connect and find the missing piece in their puzzle. So, naturally, he was used to listen to the phone ringing. It was a normal thing he always had to deal with, and he actually loved it, since it was proof that their work was more important than other departments, where the phone rarely sounded.

Today it was different, though. He heard the phone and he let it rang twice, then picked it up, put it against his ear and then talked politely, like usual.

"_My neighbours, sir, _" came an old lady's voice. Morgan resisted the urge to sigh.

"What about your neighbours, madame?" he said as politely as he could.

"_Their baby is crying way too loud, sir. And they're good people, they never leave the baby alone,_" Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Well, maybe they're busy doing something else, madame. This is the Homicides Unit, please call if you know about someone's _death_. Thank you," and he hang up before she could reply.

"Who was that?" Harkat said, leaving his portfolio on his desk.

"An old woman worried about a baby," he waved his hand, resting it importance.

"A dead baby?" Harkat asked, pulling out some papers from his portfolio.

"No, just a crying baby."

"Oh. Well, then she should call...someone else," he grabbed his inhaler and took a sip of air.

Morgan nodded and continued reading from his notes.

* * *

It had been a few days and no news about any murder. Vancha was desperate because Darren's life was way too normal and he did everything he had to do on time, and he was suspicious about that.

"Maybe if I leave him alone one day, maybe then someone dies and-"

"You know is your fault?" Gannen finished, stabbing him with his eyes.

"But you're the one who's always saying that he's innocent," he mumbled.

"Enough, you two," Alice said, pulling Vancha by the shirt and sitting him beside her. "RV told me that he found something, right, RV?"

"Yeah, well. Apparently we are dealing with a gang, or probably a guy," they all made a face at that. They were hoping to don't deal with a serial killer, but they all knew deep inside the truth. "Well, I was looking at the pictures again," he took them out of his jacket and place them in the table. "We were too busy looking at the murder itself, and the words by their own, that we missed something," he took out his pen and place it over the 'Look' and then over the 'At'. "Can you see it now?"

"'Look at'...," Alice whispered. "It's a message after all."

"Yeah, but it's not complete. And since these murders happened in different cities I suggest we let other crews know about this, in case they recieve something like this, or even if it already happened. I mean, the message is not over yet," RV looked dead serious and they all ran out to their phones to call other detectives in other cities.

* * *

There was a moment when nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, a phone started ringing very loudly and the four of them threw themselves over it, fighting to answer it.

Finally, Alice won and she quickly placed the phone against her ear.

"Yeah? Yes, yes, it's here. Whoa, calm down! Agent Burgess here! Are you happy dumbass?" she started frowning as the conversation continued. "Where did this happen?" she asked as coldly as she could, but the other three could notice the anger building up inside her. They all ran to get their coats before she even ended the conversation, and as she was writing an adress, they all went out running to get to their cars.

"I'm so terribly sorry!" Morgan excused himself for the twentieth time. "I swear I had no idea, I really didn't."

"I'm sure of that, Morgan," Harkat said slowly, looking at him with patience. "Now let's focus on this and then...your conscience will be clean," he took another sip of air.

"Thank you so much for coming so quickly!" Morgan threw himself over Alice, who shove him away. "You were so far, I thought you'd take hours!"

"We took a plane, brainless," RV retorted, catching a hysterical Morgan. "Now, what's the situation?"

That seemed to bring Morgan back to the Earth, as he ran to get their papers and his expression gained strength. Harkat sighed.

"He always panics at the beginning. He's so quiet but once he has a case he just loses it for five minutes," he smiled politely to the rest. "We're sorry, we usually don't have something like this, or if we do, it's usually only in our area, but you're saying it happened in your cities too?"

"Most likely towns, sir," Vancha said, sitting down. "So, what happened exactly?"

"A couple was found," Morgan answered. "They were smashed to death, sir. Well, the woman had several bruises in her head, as if she was beaten up there too," the four detectives frowned at that. Well, that was a slight difference with their M.O. "The man was killed first, as our forensics says. But it's just so twisted, you have to see," he said while putting the photographs on Harkat's desk. They all watched and those who were frowning frowned deeper.

What caught up their attention and what they looked at first, obviously, was their foreheads. And a common feeling of dread spare them all as they looked. The man had a "M" while the woman had an "E", and their bodies, or what was left of them, were together as if the killer had put the male's body behind the female's. It was too weird, their faces seemed to be twirled to face the photographer. Alice suddenly had an urge of crying and she covered her mouth before she started to sob. Then she decided to replace that feeling with anger and she looked at Vancha as if she was about to kill him.

"You said you thought it was Shan! Well, unless he has the ability to be in two places at the same time, I don't know how you're going to explain this, March!"

She had taken him by his shirt and Vancha feared for his life in a second. He then closed his eyes and when he opened them he looked at Gannen.

"You were right at don't trusting me, I've fallen asleep every night when I'm checking on the boy, and I realize is there the morning after," he closed his eyes again, ready for the screams and the punches and everything he knew he deserved, but that never came. When he dared to open his eyes he found his brother sitting in a chair, hands in his head, looking at the floor. Well, that was even worse than what Vancha was expecting. He looked at Alice and she looked at him sadly.

"You were the one who said he was responsible, Vancha. If you couldn't handle watching him at nights, you should've told us, and someone would've cover you up," she said slowly. Vancha wanted to kill himself.

"I was an idiot, alright! But that doesn't matter now, we need to talk to him! He's a murder weapon!"

"No, Vancha," Gannen said slowly. "He had no time to come here at night and then come back so you could see him in the morning, is not him."

"But," Harkat came into the conversation. "If he's a suspect of yours then maybe we should talk to him, just to be clear. He did left a baby alive."

"Wait, what?" RV said.

"They had a child and he was crying," Morgan said, fighting back tears. "We recieved a call early about it, I don't know if that was when they were dying or after or... I just don't know," he covered his face with his hands. "But we need to catch whoever did this, and if it's that person you say, I say we better don't waste time."

And before Gannen could fight back and say again that it was impossible for Darren to commit those crimes, the rest of the detectives ran out of the room.

* * *

**A/N: **DEAR LORD I'M WRITING TOO MUCH! But I was just so desperate to finish this chapter, since the one that's coming is the best :P (well, I already have a bunch of notes so I think it's going to be pretty long too, but trust me, that one is the one that ajbsjfbksf) poor Darren, Vancha is blaming him just for a match... you know that idea came to me thanks to Desperate Housewives, lol, since (well I don't know if someone watches it, but there's been a murder and stuff) there's a cop who's trying to incriminate Bree because she was the girlfriend of a friend of his, welp. And I do think there are some cops out there that sometimes incriminate innocents! And that's wrong! And I shouldn't say it! Because I don't even know what I'm talking about! I'm not a cop! so yeah enough with the exclamation points akjsakbfsdf see ya! xD


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